Journal of The Cat Burglar Part: 1

(Torchlight uses power and can help you stave off shock for a time)

I saw water to the south which I wanted to avoid if I could, so I headed east towards what I believed would be a continuation of the room however I found only a metal grate blocking my passage forward into what would have been another flooded chamber. So, I resolved to, in the interest of battery life and the advantage of the cover of darkness, continue south into the flooded chamber without the aid of my lantern. I waded slowly into the knee high water planning to only go about as far as the light had shown. At that distance I could hear the faint sound of running water and in the darkness could make out the barest hint of a shadow of a fountain in the near total darkness, perhaps it was being illuminated by something. Perhaps by something else alive holding a torch. I reserved my own torchlight for the time being and headed south into the darkness, trying to make as little noise in the knee high, ice cold water as I could, although the adrenaline flowing through my ears made gauging sound difficult.

Truly I was blessed to find the light being that of another brazier, the light and warmth a welcome sight that soothed me of my frights. I made a note of the fountain and explored a door just outside the room as I dried myself as best I could. Down another hallway choked with vines I plunged towards the sound of more running water, although this fountain was flanked by sets of chains hanging from the ceiling. I tried to open a door to the west but found it was stuck, I decided not to risk straining myself and used the open passage to the west.

(Straining yourself is a negative status effect you can get from failing to open stuck doors.)

Down another hallway I sprang, I felt glee as I saw a glowing green flask laying at the end of the hallway in front of a door. But when I picked it up I heard a rattling of chains from beyond the door and my heart sank once more. I quickly stole away back down the hall and into a northern passage way that I had passed along the way.

I continued to make my way northward passed hanging chains and iron grates and doors to ways I assume I had already traveled near enough to for comfort for now. When my eyes spied movement from out of the darkness. It was a pit viper squirming its way through a pile of debris that made up a portion of the wall in this putrid ruin. Perhaps, if I were quick enough I could dash out of the room without it noticing me whilst it slithered into this small chamber.

(Unlike real life these snakes are all super angry danger noodles who try to kill you on-sight any way they can. IRL most of these little guys will leave you alone if you give them space or play them a song.)

I thought perhaps it had doubled back into the room to the north but I second guessed my senses and ended up walking right into the vipers line of sight, meaning it was going to be a fight. I dashed towards it and started stabbing, big mistake, I killed the viper but was poisoned by several snake bites. I treated my immediate wounds and decided to head south towards the fountains to wait for the poison to wear off as the running water would calm my nerves. The poison was coming on strong and I found I could hardly walk when I heard something shuffling to the south west. This time I decided to trust my instincts and head back north to heal up again.

I once again cleaned up my festering snake bite wounds in the same area I killed the viper and decided to move further northward again. By the time I came to a door I was feeling terrible once more, knife-fighting that viper was a terrible choice, that I still regret, even now. I started to feel bad as I stepped through the door I felt even worse when I saw what was beyond it, some kind of walking corpse, flesh only nearly clinging to its hideous and animate bones, just the sight of the thing filled me with dread, I again decided to make a dash away before the creature saw me, this time promising myself not to get into another knife fight, I pulled out my S&W and stole away towards the shadows and as I did two more horrors came forth from the gloom, rat-things! I dashed down the hallway, before they were able to see me, I think.

(Monsters in this game are depecited simply but that doesn't stop them from being scary when one of them killing you resets all of your progress.)

The area was pitch dark and I felt myself half-mad with fright as I tried to feel my way through the darkness. In that dark place I found a vase inscribed with whispers of arcane incantations revealing to me hidden lore that I am too horrified to transcribe here.

(Some objects can be examined for an xp bonus they look a little bit diffrent from other objects that don't have inscriptions.)

I could hear those terrible abominations just outside the chamber so I kept moving before treating my myriad snake wounds. Finally I felt them closing, I was at full strength again and out of the darkness. Bounding again I was down the dark halls of decrepitude almost relieved of my gloom and terror. I found more revolver ammo, more etchings making suggestion of hidden realms, and 10 Winchester .30 bullets. This final discovery gave me pause, I am certain I could out shoot someone with my Smith and Weston, but someone getting the drop on me with a .30 round could very well be my end. I picked up the ammo, and moved ahead carefully hoping I would find the owner of the Winchester before they found me. South again I moved back into the room in which I first found myself. I had navigated a long ways and still had further to go. I headed east in hopes of finding a stairway downwards.

I found only dead ends, I doubled back winding my way towards the rat-things and corpse-thing. One of the rats was patrolling the halls nearby and I dashed away from it, I could of sworn that it knew I was there but it never saw me. I moved my way back passed the corpse of the pit-viper that had caused me so much trouble and westward past a wooden door, into a room with a brazier and a swooping raven, I pulled out my S&W incase it swooped for me, but I saw a cultist standing there with his own weapon and decided against it, deciding to move north instead.

The chamber to the north wasn't much better, three wolves stood sentinel over the statuary. The raven swooping into the hallway to my rear, I pulled out and set light to a Molotov and gave it a nice friendly underhand toss towards the wolves. With a crash and a flash the wolves were aflame and the raven was coming for my eyes, claws out! I wheeled around and put the squeeze on the trigger of the S&W. BANG, bird guts. The wolves were crispy critters and the cultist for sure heard that flash report from Smith & Weston, I made a dash for the center of the room where there was a stone monolith with some writing on it. I took one step and came across a black mamba, I wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time.

BANG, snake guts, and another snake wriggling through the gore straight at me, bang, I hit its tail, it bites at me, but misses, bang it's dead, but now the cultist is coming down the hallway towards all the shots, I can hear the footsteps coming up on me fast. I look into the room with the snakes, to see if it's a good place to hide, nope, more snakes. Bang, Bang. Out of ammo. Snake dead. Cultist right behind me with a gun to my back. I dash into the darkness moving through all the snake guts on the balls of my feet so as not to slip or make noise. Cloaked in shadow, I pull my dagger. The cultist is right on me now, gun pointed into the darkness of the room where I had dissappeared inside. Moving as quickly as my trembling limbs will propel me I burst forth from the darkness and stab the cultist with my dagger. Once. Twice. Someone mutters incantations from the room to the north. The cultist kicks me in the thigh to push me away and I stab at them again, they fire a shot of their pistol into the darkness, I could feel the slug whizz past my ear and felt the hot black powder on my face, filling my nostrils with the smell of burning sulfer, this place was truly becoming hell. That muzzle flash had illiuminated the cultist's eyes for just a heartbeat and in that moment I saw them to be filled with the madness of a trapped animal, and the same fear I felt taking over my own being, I sank my dagger into them a third time and they went down. Someone is moving in the room to the north of me. They are coming this way and I am close to mad with fear, but I pull out my gun and start trying to reload with my trembling fingers, this room is a prison sell and I've got a life sentance if Smith & Weston don't have the key. I manage to load a single round before the cultist priest is standing in the doorway eyeing the darkness that I hide in. I level my weapon and take him right between the eyes. I suppose the last thing he saw was the muzzle flash itself, but part of me always wondered what, if he could see them at all, he saw in my eyes in that final moment of his life.

I took stock of what the cultists had dropped, an orange potion, a colt pistol, and another dagger I don't need. I pick up what I want and move towards that monolith, the secrets it granted me filled me with feelings of raw power, I knew I could continue on and I did, south towards the brazier where I first spied the raven and cultist, only now could I see the stairway down. The soreness from the cultist's kick and the snake poison were gone now and I was filled with a new resolve ready to move on towards my destiny..."

-From Notes Found Among Dessicated Remains Discovered In The Auld Woods.